Exodus

*Sorry for the delay. Updates will come faster in the future, hopefully when life decides to stop being such a bitch.*

"Six hundred years ago, the First Equine Imperium launched its first invasion of the Sol system, in the hope of subjugating and enslaving mankind. It was here, on Mars, that tens of thousands of men and women of all species fought and bled into the Martian soil to ensure that human civilization, and indeed, every civilization, would never be dominated by some tyrant thousands of light years away! It was here, on Mars, that the Federation of Free Galactic States was founded to ensure that the destinies of all the free peoples of the galaxy would be determined by no-one but themselves!" The crowd almost erupted, their cheers barely restrained. Across the entire galaxy trillions of citizens on hundreds of Federation planets crammed in front of communal broadcast screens on streets and buildings, anxiously awaiting the end of their centuries long nightmare.

President Amando Russo cleared his throat, and the uproar died away into deathly silence. "It is fitting, then, that it is on Mars that I hereby declare the original purpose of our glorious Federation finally concluded." He inhaled, and with a great surge of emotion, he threw his arms above his head and shouted. "The Equine have been defeated!" At this revelation, there was no restraining the crowd. Amidst the emotional chaos pockets of people began chanting Russo's name. Others in the crowd soon caught on and added their voices, until trillions of voices across the entire Federation had been raised alongside them.

"Russo! Russo! Russo!"

"Let there be peace!"

"What do you mean gone?" President Russo almost shouted at the collection of aides and political hangars-on gathered around the war room table. He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration as two military attachés, young lieutenants both, stepped forward and spoke up, glancing at each other nervously as they did so.

"It's as we said sir. Lord Admiral Steiner has taken the entire Equine campaign fleet on an as yet unspecified mission." One of the lieutenants produced a datapad and began reading from the lines of text scrolling across the holographic screen. "Six standard days ago (Adjusted for galactic distances), Lord Admiral Steiner recalled all two hundred and twenty three warships, as well as their attending support vessels, of the Federation First Combined Fleet. All ships rallied at Equestria Prime, then made a collective jump into warp space three days ago. They haven't reported back since."

The lieutenant's eyes flickered up, gauging the President's reaction. Russo wiped a hand over his face and impatiently gestured for the young man to continue.

"Lord Admiral Steiner did not explain the reasoning for his departure. The only communication we received simply notified us of the initial warp jump."

President Russo leaned back in his chair and silently glared at the two lieutenants for a full minute. Impressively, the anger of the most powerful man in the galaxy didn't stir an outward reaction from the two young men, who'd resigned themselves to their fate and decided to go with some military dignity by standing passively at attention.

"So they're gone. Poof." Russo threw his hands in the air for emphasis. "Billions of credits worth of tax payer money up in smoke just like that."

"That does seem to be the case, sir."

"I knew this would happen. Steiner was always too headstrong. Too idealistic. Too damned popular!" Russo leaned forward and beckoned one of his assistants over. The aide hurried forward and placed a glass of water in front of him, before retreating back into the shadows beyond the table. "What are the odds that he's gone rogue?"

A black clad man seated in isolation at the other end of the table leaned forward, resting a deathly pale chin on steepled fingers. The others gathered around the table, powerful and influential figures all, fidgeted uneasily as he spoke. "My analysts have come to a consensus over this troublesome matter." The figure's voice was soft and carried an element of warmth and calm totally at odds with what many around the table knew he was capable of. "The esteemed Admiral's home planet was utterly destroyed, with traditional nuclear weapons, by retreating Equine troops about forty years ago. Just about the time he signed up, in fact."

"Yes? Get on with it." The president picked up the glass of water and raised it to his lips for a long draught.

"Admiral Steiner has always been psychologically unstable as a result. Since taking command of the First Combined Fleet, none of the troops under his command have ever taken enemy prisoners. Howard doesn't believe in leaving survivors."

A barathi seated at the table, this one covered in gold braid and medals denoting numerous victorious campaigns, spoke up.

"Howard has never been politically concerned. Not enough to wish to seize power." He grumbled in the deep, reverberating tone common to his people. "He is addicted to killing crow-bait."

"Precisely." The black clad man nodded. "There were Equine survivors from Equestria Prime who escaped and recently came to Howard's attention. This is the only thing which would motivate him to go AWOL with an entire grand fleet. It would certainly explain the rush."

"Damn it." Russo placed the glass back on the table with a quivering hand. "Do you have any idea how many promises I made?" He pointed into the distance, as if the crowd from earlier was still out there. "I promised them that their sons and daughters would come home by next week. Not a month, or a year from now. Next week! Did Howard just shit all over my orders? My signed, handwritten orders TO BRING THE FLEET BACK?"

The black clad man remained passive as his colleagues shuffled nervously in their seats. Someone was going to get blamed and all of them were terrified at the prospect of incurring the President's political ire.

"In preparation for such a situation, I took the liberty of inserting several of my people onto a few of the combined fleet's ships." The man leaned into the light enough to reveal a satisfied, toothy smile. "They transmitted their operational readiness to my headquarters yesterday morning, in fact."

President Amando sputtered incoherently for a few seconds, before regaining his composure. The general feeling among the rest of the war-room delegates was one of shock, outrage, relief, and secretive amusement at the president's outburst.

"The situation is, as you can see, fully under control."

"Why was I not informed?" The president narrowed his eyes dangerously as he jabbed a meaty finger at the black clad man. "You answer to me. No one else. Certainly not yourself. You will inform me of such developments as and when they arise, or your tenure will be short lived. Do you understand?"

If the man was unsettled, he gave no sign of it. "Apologies, Mr President. I understand completely."

His tone sounded genuine. No one gathered could find fault with it, try as they might. No one was foolish enough to believe it for a second.

"I've taken the liberty of having my operatives remain in deep cover. They will passively transmit information of the fleet's location and activities." The man produced a data pad and handed it to a nearby aide, who hurried to deposit it in front of the president. "As you can see, they are some of my best agents. One from each specialized branch of my organization. They can remain in deep cover without fear of detection indefinitely." He took out a small black box and placed it on the table. A click, and the cover on the box peeled back to reveal a flat, red button. It was a kill order ready to be sent. A press of the button would send a signal to the Assassin Bureau's headquarters. The state of the art galaxy wide communication systems would alert the operative linked to the kill order. An objective could be completed within days of the transmitter's activation.

"One of them is indeed very close to the esteemed admiral. Close enough for a dagger." A black gloved finger teased the button lightly, tracing around its edge.

The gathered delegates glanced at each other, the reason for their unease laid bare.

"No. Not yet." Russo said, his voice low and edged. "Have your operatives uncover the Admiral's reasons for taking the entire fleet. We will decide then."

"Very well."

The black transmitter clicked shut, and disappeared back into the Federal Spymaster's trench-coat.

*One Month Later*

"This is Tranquility." Admiral Argo Nautilus jabbed at the holographic representation of the agricultural planet with his pen as he eyed the assembled Fleet council. A beautiful green and blue orb filled the bridge viewing window as the ships of the Exodus fleet moved into orbit, on the look out for any sign of hostile activity.

"Preliminary scans indicate a rather primitive, underdeveloped farming community consisting of hundreds of small family farms, each producing barely enough food to warrant our attention." Admiral Argo telekinetically pressed a button on his holographic projector, bringing up a hologram of a substantial concrete complex. "There is, however, a major commercial agricultural center on the planet. It's only purpose is to produce food for export to the rest of the Federation, particularly to its military."

Shining Sky looked up, as if on cue, and tucked the pencil she'd been writing with behind her ear. Applebuck, who was standing passively beside her, gave her a small nudge forward. Over the past month, the five friends who'd met in the mess hall had become fast friends content to spend time with each other whenever they had a moment to spare. Applebuck, for his part, had slipped into the role of a protective big brother, always ready to lend encouragement whenever anypony needed it, a tendency for which Shining Sky and Tenderheart were immeasurably grateful. Coughing quietly to get the audience's attention, she began reading from her clipboard.

"The crop silo buried beneath the agricultural center is estimated to be several orders of magnitude larger than even the Ark's cargo bays." She began, eyes flicking across lines of text and data. Her horn glowed, and she began rapidly flipping through several pages before she came to the information she needed. "Taking into account the combined free storage space of all Exodus ships, coupled with current rates of consumption..."

She began to ramble, spewing enough mathematical terms and equations to make most of the audience, except Luna, dizzy. A gentle cough, and a slender white hoof laid itself on the small black unicorn's shoulder. Shining Sky halted, and glanced up at Celestia's warm visage. "Please, my little pony, put it in simpler terms for ponies not as learned as yourself."

Shining Sky blanched, fumbled and barely caught her clipboard. "Yes, of course, your Celes- Highness." She took a deep breath to calm herself. "Basically, we could take enough food to fill every inch of storage space we have from this one facility. After that...we might just be able to throw rationing to the wind."

Celestia beamed and nodded her appreciation as the assembled delegates began muttering among themselves, their reactions ranging from barely contained excitement to nervousness and skepticism.

Admiral Argo clopped his forehooves together. "Excellent. Now comes the hard part." He brought up a diagram of the Exodus fleet's combined ground forces. "How do we get a hold of it?"

Shimmer was not a happy pony at the moment.

She clutched the dropship seat restraints with a death grip and tried her best not to gasp in fear at every bump or shudder reverberating throughout the vessel as it descended through the atmosphere. She caught the eye of Applebuck, who nodded reassuringly to her and held out a hoof, signaling calm. She'd met the red furred horse when she'd boarded the dropship. He was one of several agricultural experts brought along to analyze the crop and determine its value, as well as the best way to transport it. Shimmer, on the other hand, was to be the voice of the Solar Empire, as Princess Celestia had called her. Her role was to announce the Equine presence to the facility staff and somehow manage to negate armed resistance with liberal use of her megaphone. She'd volunteered for the role without a second though. She needed to get off that dreadful, damp ship after all. Besides, she'd faced far rowdier crowds in her days as a sculptor in high echelon Canterlot society.

She hadn't expected the hard steel and foam, military issue seats. Nor the way the seat belt and restraints chaffed her chest and shoulders. Nor the bumpy, vomit inducing ride (Which wasn't a risk. Shimmer was far too ladylike for such barbarism. Or so she hoped.) A surge of bile roared up her throat as the dropship unexpectedly jerked downwards.

It was going to be a very long ride.

Adam Wei Qian rubbed his eyes, not quite sure what he was seeing. The logical part of his mind told him that it was just another cargo convoy come to collect the annual crop. But...that wasn't right. The harvesting season wasn't over. The silo was only half full, and the other half was still sitting out in the fields waiting to be collected. Eyeing the fireball streaks of atmospheric vessels on his console with building trepidation and suspicion, he shouted across the room in a voice which fully reflected his mood.

"Dave! When's the next cargo ship scheduled to arrive?"

Dave, a young, red haired caucasian, tapped a few commands into his holographic keyboard and brought up a cargo schedule. He scanned in with a growing frown, and shouted back his response.

"One month from now. Why?"

"What about colony ships? Any new arrivals scheduled?" Adam hovered a hand over a large red button beside his management console.

"No." Dave opened up a new schedule and scanned it before shaking his head. "No ships scheduled to arrive within the next month." He looked up at his manager curiously. "What's this about?"

"Shit." Adam pressed the button, causing sirens to ring across the entire agricultural facility. He opened his holographic console and opened up a direct link to the facility loudspeaker system.

"This is manager Wei Qian, we have numerous unidentified ships on direct heading towards the facility." The chatter and murmuring in the control center hushed abruptly, the management staff looking up with a mixture of fear and confusion. "Presumed hostile. All staff initiate invasion response and lock down the silo. Store all farming equipment and proceed to assigned stations in an orderly fashion. Message repeats."

Adam closed the link and pointed at a terrified young communications specialist beside him. "Alert the planetary governor. Get the militia off their fat asses and over here right now."

He looked up at the silent crowd of management staff and frowned.

"What are you waiting for? Purge everything! Do it now!"

As the staff hurriedly began deleting shipping records and Federal fleet movements, Adam pulled a Federation issue MK5 from under his desk. He racked the slide, and placed the handgun in the empty holster on his belt.

He really hoped he wouldn't have to use it.

As the Equine dropships resolved into view, their designs were recognized by a few of the older staff, who'd seen far too many of the same ships during their respective tours of duty in the Federal military. As they approached close enough to make out individual details, many recognized the symbol of the First Equine Imperium painted on the bottoms of their hulls. Therefore, none of the staff were surprised when the drop bays opened and discharged squads of power armored imperial marines on hoof jets. News of the Federal victory hadn't yet reached this particular backwater, so as far as the staff were concerned, they were still at war. Which is why the first thing to greet the Equine soldiers was a hail of bullets.

"Buck!" Fortis Hastae swore as he ducked behind a nearby shipping container. "So much for no armed resistance." It was a mess. The Ark marines were pinned down across their landing zones and uniformly encountering heavy resistance, as the farmers fought back with Federation issue assault rifles and grenades. So far, the advanced Pferd pattern power armor had prevented them from taking a single casualty. That was a situation that definitely wouldn't persist if the farmers managed to overrun them. "First squad!" Fortis cried, aware that inaction would definitely result in his death. "Smokle grenades! Second squad, follow up with frags!"

First squad stood up over their cover, their powered armor deflecting the bullets but taking a beating in the process, and tossed smoke grenades into the space between the two sides. Once the smoke had dissipated enough to confuse the farmers, who were fighting without the aid of heat vision, frags followed courtesy of second squad. A series of detonations caused the gunfire to come to an abrupt stop.

"Initiative! Over the top, charge!" Fortis leaped over his cover, mindful enough to allow a few of his subordinates to rush on ahead of him. The squad of power armored equines thundered through the smoke, their heavy armor allowing them to smash right through the barrels and wooden crates the farmers had been using as cover. The frags had torn the enemy to shreds and painted the ground red with blood and viscera. Half a dozen human and barathi corpses lay scattered in various states of abuse. Several of the farmers were still alive and desperately tried to crawl away. Fortis couldn't find it in him to order their executions, so he turned away and demanded a status report. The crackling of the radio almost drowned out the sound of three distinct shots.

"First, Second and Third companies are clear. No casualties. Multiple hostiles engaged and defeated."

"Where's Fourth?" Fortis asked, telekinetically racking the slide on his flechette blaster. He hadn't fired a single shot yet.

"We're pinned down by the vehicle depot! The humans are trying to overrun us with farming equipment and we've taken several casualties!"

"First and Third company, move to assist! Second company with me!"

As the chorus of assents faded away, Fortis led his troops on a gallop towards the facility control center, away from the casualty reports. Slapping down an inferior opponent with little risk of injury or death? That was his kind of fight.

Adam Wei Qian was trying very hard not to piss himself. The sound of gunfire resounded throughout the entire control center as the managerial staff put up a spirited resistance and were eventually overrun. This wasn't right. Almost none of the staff were trained soldiers! They were farmhands and office workers at best! How could they possibly be expected to hold out against trained troops equipped with powered armor? These weren't the slavers, pirates or raiders he'd been expecting. These were Equine soldiers! The war had finally come to Tranquility, it seemed.

His staff had taken the time to rearrange the cubicle walls and desks into a defensible perimeter, taking care to leave as little cover for the attacking equines as possible. They'd created a no man's land between the door and the control consoles. In Adam's amateurish opinion, the tactical situation was ideal for a level playing field.

Which clearly wasn't the case at the moment.

He looked around. Some of his staff were teenagers. Farmboys who'd come to the planet barely a few years ago and only recently left puberty. Now they were clutching assault rifles with shaking hands and hoping to hold off trained, armored soldiers. Perhaps surrender wouldn't be such a bad thing. They didn't have anything to lose at the moment but their lives. Fuck, they could always grow more food-

Adam was shaken out of his panicked thoughts as the door exploded inwards. The glowing red vision slits of Equine shock troops were visible through the smoke. He made his decision in a split second and threw his arms up.

"Don't shoot! We surrender!"

The control room staff turned to look at him, most openly shocked. All secretly relieved. The vision slits halted for a second. A few blue, round objects sailed through the doorway as the vision slits disappeared from sight. Adam's eyes widened.

"Grenad-"

The grenades sailed past their makeshift fort and popped open, firing barbed wires crackling with electricity in every direction.

Fortis Hastae stepped into the control room as the human staff convulsed on the ground. The taser grenades had done their job, and the enemy would be perfectly capable of assisting once they stopped flopping about like fish.

"Control center secured. Send in the civilians."

He picked his way carefully through the bodies and knelt down in front of the man he presumed to be the facility manager.

"Lets get this started."